The Mothership Connection

Making its New York City debut, The Mothership Connection by British-Caribbean artist Zak Ové will be part of a major public art activation led by NALA projects and The Meatpacking District. 

On 2 September 2025, British-Caribbean artist Zak Ové’s monumental Afrofuturist sculpture The Mothership Connection will touch down in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District as part of a major public art activation led by NALA Projects and The Meatpacking Business Improvement District, marking the sculpture’s New York City debut.

Standing just short of 30 feet tall and lit up like a beacon, The Mothership Connection merges African iconography with sci-fi mythology, resembling a futuristic African rocket ship, crowned with a super-sized Mende headpiece. The work draws from Afrofuturist legacies and diasporic symbolism, and is a vibrant and dynamic display of cross-cultural connections and histories, a testament to New York’s renowned destination and home for cultures across the globe.

Built from brightly coloured stainless steel blocks, the work reimagines iconic architectural forms historically constructed through enslaved labour, transforming them into symbols of survival, dignity, and cultural memory – forming a powerful visual metaphor for the African diaspora’s foundational role in shaping the modern world. The Mothership Connection highlights and pays homage to the invisible stories that built the world we know today.

With The Mothership Connection, Ove challenges dominant ideals fixing Western modernity as the future, and the relegation of African cultures to the past. Ove’s artwork is an emissary of African cultural histories, presence, and futurity – a powerful act of cultural remembrance and imagination: affirming the past whilst projecting new possibilities into the future.

As New York City celebrates its 400th anniversary, the sculpture creates a radiant testament to the multicultural history and internationalism of New York and the Meatpacking District.